Silent Waters (2004)
70 %
Reviews Counted: 20 Fresh: 14 Rotten:6 Average Rating: 6.8/10
Consensus:
Set in the late 1970s, Silent Waters is a well-meaning but plodding look at the rise of extremism in Pakistan.
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Theatrical Release: Oct 8, 2004 Limited
Synopsis: This gorgeously shot feature chronicles the lives of a mother and her teenage son in a rural Pakistani village in 1979. Saleem (Aamir Malik) is an aimless youth in love with local beauty Zubeida (Shilpa Shukla), and adored by his widowed mother, Ayesha (Kiron Kher). Life seems to flow in... [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Kiron Kher, Aamir Malik, Shilpa Shukla, Arshud Mahmud, Salman Shahid
Director: Sabiha Sumar
Screenwriter: Sabiha Sumar
Producer: Sachithanandam Sathananthan, Philippe Avril, Helge Albers, Claudia Tronnier
Screenwriter: Sabiha Sumar
Producer: Sachithanandam Sathananthan, Philippe Avril, Helge Albers, Claudia Tronnier
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Reviews
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05/20/08
Top Critic
Puts you in the middle of the action and allows you to understand, if not empathize with, all the main characters.
03/01/07
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02/09/06
An interesting, if incomplete, picture of a community torn apart by religious zealotry.
06/03/05
Swirls amid memory and dreams while reflecting how much is masked by two-faced rhetoric, and how overlooked the victims of patriarchal nationalism and Islamism are.
04/07/05
By the time you understand the meaning of its title, Sabiha Sumar's film has delivered an emotional punch.
03/11/05
Even behind the veil, the movie tells us, there is dissent -- cinematic dissent.
02/11/05
...sporadically intriguing film that's ultimately sunk by director Sabiha Sumar's occasionally simplistic and melodramatic treatment of the material.
11/21/04
Silent Waters means well, but falls way short of its mark of enlightening the world to the plight of South Asian women in this period of history. It just isn't believable enough.
11/12/04
Top Critic
An indictment of intolerance, Silent Waters is a truly powerful picture, and of the sort that sneaks up on you and stays with you long after you've left the theatre.
11/12/04
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10/24/04
The filmmakers provide a well-meaning, well-timed Pakistani portrait.
10/08/04
Top Critic
Although taking place 25 years in the past, director-writer Sabiha Sumar's debut feature has relevance in the world as we now know it.
10/08/04
Top Critic
A more nuanced approach would have better articulated their allure to impressionable youth.
10/08/04
Stirring on religious and humanitarian levels, and very timely notwithstanding its 1979 setting.
10/07/04
Sabiha Sumar's debut feature could scarcely be more relevant to Pakistan's present, or, given this country's history of backing such repressive regimes, to ours.
10/06/04
Top Critic
...it presents an engaging and informative depiction of Pakistan's tumultuous history from an intimate perspective.
07/11/04
Related Forums
SILENT WATERS breaks the silence in the USA on October 8, 2004 ...
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